Out, Out by Robert Frost
The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behing the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,
As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap -
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all -
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man's work, though a child at heart -
He saw all was spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off -
The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"
So. The hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then - the watcher at his pulse took a fright.
No one believed. They listened to his heart.
Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
- How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?The poem uses a lot of personification, usually referring to the saw. “The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard” and “At the word, the saw, As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy's hand”. This gives the saw a vicious and violent personality, such as when it cut off the boy's hand.
- Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words. This poem can relate to anyone who has experienced a death in their life as it tells them to move in. It shows how unpredictable death can be. At the beginning of the poem, all is going well. It seems as though it is a normal day “And nothing happened: day was all but done”. But when his sister tells him it’s time for supper, he gets excited, and accidentally cuts off his hand. The poet states that by saying “Call it a day” death could have been avoided. If the boy had decided that that was enough, shut the saw off and went on, he never would have cut his hand. This stresses how unpredictable death can be, and how it can end a boy's life just as easily as it can end an older person's life.
